Gomennasai
by Lil Enchantress
Summary: [AU] The Akatsuki are a gang in school, as well as the same age as Naruto and the rest. Sasori and Sakura have a sweet relationship, but Deidara keeps butting in the way. Pretty soon both Sakura and Deidara are going to learn their lesson. The hard way.
1. The Fight

A/N: The main characters (like Sakura, Sasori, and Deidara) are 16. Other ages go accordingly (like Lee, 10-10, and Neji would be 17 in this fic, as well as Kankuro being 18, Temari 19.). The sensei's are all their age, plus 4 years. Please enjoy the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any form, shape, or size. All that good stuff belongs to Misashi Kishimoto.

**Gomennasai**  
Chapter 1: The Fight  
Written by Lil Enchantress

Sakura was doing her Algebra II homework in her study hall period when a huge wad of paper hit her in the back of the head. She paused for a minute before turning around and seeing a head of red hair and serious eyes smiling at her from three desks back. It was Sasori... again. Her boyfriend could be so annoying during study hall. He never did his homework or anything, so he bothered her the whole period with notes. Sakura sighed, and then bent over her desk to pick up the wad of paper he threw at her and opened it up. He had barely written anything on it compared to how much paper there was.

_Hey beautiful... Wat's up? I'm bored because I don't have any homework. What are you working on? I love you. _

He signed it with a heart and then his name. Very illegible, but she still knew it was his writing. It made her blush; his note did. Even if it was bothersome, he could be very sweet without trying very hard. Although that part about him not having any homework was very hard to believe. She smirked and took out a fresh piece of paper from her notebook. She didn't want to write on the paper he'd just given her because once it got back to him; chances were that she'd never see it again. Sakura liked to keep notes like these, they were very romantic. So anyway, she got the fresh piece of notepaper out and wrote a quick response.

_I'm doing my Algebra II homework. Aren't you in that class with me? That means you have homework too, silly. I love you too._

She signed it same as him, with the heart and then her name... only hers was much neater despite the speedy writing. She folded the note a few times then grinned when it finally looked like what she wanted. A Chinese throwing star... she'd been practicing her origami more lately, and had even gotten as skilled as folding everyday notes for passing in class. It was a tricky scheme, but a lot of kids had been doing it lately; the origami note thing.

Checking to see if the teacher was watching, but Mr. Hatake was reading his perverted book behind his desk as usual and didn't even notice some of the other students that were clowning around, Sakura threw the origami throwing star at Sasori before turning back around in her seat to work on her Algebra. She heard the unfolding of paper and could almost feel the smirk he was probably making peering into her back. While finishing a word problem up, she felt another wad of paper against her back. Without looking back at Sasori this time, she leaned over and picked it up, reading it. He'd used the same paper she wrote on, so it was creased weirdly and slightly hard to read.

_I already finished it during class. (he drew a smiley face sticking it's tongue out at her) Do you wanna go to Burger Queen after school with me and Deidara? Love you._

It finished with another heart and his sloppily written name. Sakura sighed, and glanced back at him with a small smile playing on her lips. She hurriedly ripped out another fresh page and wrote 'yes' then her name and a heart. Folding it quickly, she forgot to check to see whether or not Mr. Hatake was watching or not, she threw it backwards. Unlucky for her, Mr. Hatake caught the newly made Chinese star before it even got to Sasori.

"Miss Haruno, what do you think you're doing? If this is a note, I do believe I have to privilege to read it to the entire class," he said before unfolding the origami note. He coughed before reading the one word that was written on it. "'Yes.' Sakura, I'm surprised at you, even if it is just one word, it's not like you to get involved with passing notes during class."

"It's only study hall," Sasori chimed in, giving his teacher a fake smile.

"Only study hall?" Mr Hatake asked, his eye twitching lazily.

"Yeah, didn't you hear me? You must be old. Well... you do have all that grey hair and everything," Sasori talked back in his bored tone, putting his arms behind his head to support it from falling backwards when he leaned in his chair.

"Eh, Sasori! Don't say that about Mr. Hatake... he's only thirty!" Sakura defended her teacher like any do-gooder would. "But now that you mention it... how does he have grey hair? I don't see how that works."

"Sakura..." Mr. Hatake bite his lip as to not say what he really wanted. "Please go to the office. Both of you. Note passing is just not tolerable in this school."

"Fine," Sasori smirked, getting out of his seat and walking to the door immediately as if he knew it was going to happen. "See ya later gramps!"

"...Sasori..." Sakura worried, got up and ran after him.

In the hallway, Sasori was still smirking though with a bored look now. He had walked these empty halls so often now that he could get to the office with his eyes closed from any room in the building. Sakura on the other hand, well... she'd gone quite a few times too, but only because Sasori was starting to rub off on her. She'd finally learned to speak her mind, but unlucky for her, that wasn't always the greatest thing to do. Turns out that when 'Inner Sakura' gets out... it's pretty hard to seal her back in. Anyway, they're walking through the halls when they hear a voice behind them.

"Yo! Sasori-danna! Unn!" a boy with long blonde hair was running down the halls, his half ponytail waving from side to side as he took each step, his gravity defying emo bang moving slightly to reveal a second blue eye the same as the uncovered one (a/n: he's got both eyes...). As he got closer, he started slowing down until he came to a complete stop right in front of Sasori. "Are you guys going to the office too?"

"Yeah, gramps Hatake got mad at us for passing notes. What about you? What'd you do?" Sasori inquired lazily, only mildy interested in what his answer might be. They all got in trouble so many times that he barely cared what they got in trouble for anymore, just as long as they did.

"I was supposed to be spray painting those bird houses we were making in wood shop, but I thought that the paint would look much better on the wall," Deidara starting rambling excitedly. "It turns out that you're really not supposed to do that! Can you imagine? Unn."

Deidara was laughing, and showing off his newly aquired red, spray paint stains on his hands and clothes. It amazed Sakura at how childish he was sometimes. It was hard to imagine that he was Sasori's best friend. Sakura thought that by now Sasori would've been fed up with him, but no. They were as close as ever. It sometimes made her jealous... to know that someone might be a little closer to Sasori than even she, who was his girlfriend, was. But what could she really do? It's not like doing anything to Deidara would help her current situation. When they finally arrived at the office, principal Tsunade looked to be having a fit.

"There're _more_ of you?" she screamed, almost pulling out her hair. "Seven of your friends already came earlier today!"

"Wow. Seven?" Sasori asked, nonenthusiastically. "We should really work on getting here faster."

"Urg! Do you want detention?" principal Tsunade asked, her eyebrow twitching. "Do you have _fun_ making me stay after school with you brats everyday?"

"Sasori, tell her no!" Sakura nudged him, not wanting to get into any more trouble than she really needed to.

"Actually..." he trailed off, implying that he really did get a kick out of making her stay after school with them. Deidara though made it much clearer.

"Yes, yes! We enjoy it very much, unn! It's a game, right Sasori-danna?" Deidara looked like he was almost going to clap his hands. He was always so hyper... Sakura wondered briefly if anyone gave him sugar every morning before he came to school. Knowing him, it was likely.

"_You_..." Tsunade growled, before taking out three red slips and filling them out. "Take these and go back to your classes. You will all meet back in room one hundred and nine for detention at two forty five exactly. If you're late, you'll gain another hour's detention tomorrow."

Deidara and Sasori pretended a salute to her then waved as they left, dragging a sulking Sakura behind them. That's how it always happened. Everyday. Except on Tuesdays, because it was special. Sasori's group rule number thirty two - never get detention on Tuesday. No one knows why, but whatever.

Sakura hung back as Deidara and Sasori were walking side by side. It made her sad again. It always did. She liked Deidara fine, but he was always hanging all over his best friend like a toddler with sugar. Sasori loved her, sure... but he always talked more... _freely_ with Deidara. It was hard to explain, really, it was, but there was just this awkward feeling she got when all three of them hung out together. Her thoughts going back to the detention, Sakura sighed. It was only fifth period right now, lunch next, then three more periods till detention. Almost as if the school had read her mind, the bell rung for lunch and a stampede of people came rushing out of their classes to eat.

The last bell rang for the day, permitting all... well almost all students to leave the building. A lucky number of twelve students had to make their way to room one hundred and nine for a little after school lesson. Detention though, seemed more like a regular study hall for the group of friends, as they all started to talk before principal Tsunade came in. It was almost a quarter of the time through the time that they were meant to be there when the vice principal, Ms. Shizune, came in.

"I'm sorry, but principal Tsunade had to rush home. Her husband got into an accident, and she needs to take care of him, so I'll be taking over for the rest of the week... including detentions. I must remind you that I'm not a substitute, rather more of a replacement until she comes back. However you act towards me can and will be used against you," Ms. Shizune informed the group of students, professionally pushing her glasses further up the bridge of her nose. (a/n: I gave her glasses... deal with it.)

"What, are we in a court or something?" a student with blue hair commented loudly, making the rest of the kids laugh along with him. He earned another demerit about as quickly as you could say banana split.

"No more talking," Ms. Shizune said strictly, sitting down in the teacher's desk so she could use the computer. "I've got work to do, and if it's not done by the time this detention's over because I have to keep yelling at you, you'll all have to stay another hour!"

After the room quieted down, a 'how troublesome' could be heard from the back of the room, and a loud smack quickly afterwards. Sakura knew it had to of been Shikamaru and Temari. They were in detention almost as often as Sasori's friends were. Only... Shikamaru gets detention because he always sleeps in class and Temari because she beats people up. Sasori's friends only get it because they're pranksters and they like to hang out after school, and at the school seemed the best place they could all agree on (meaning they get in trouble so much, they have no choice but to meet there). Temari had probably just hit Shikamaru because she didn't want to stay another hour, and his lazy ass was going to potentially mess that up for her.

Sakura sighed, laying her head down on the cool surface of her desk. Detention wasn't so bad, it was more boring really. She'd finished all her homework in the study hall before she got assigned detention, and the book she was reading was at home. With nothing else to do, Sakura started looking around the room. Besides Shikamaru and Temari, all the other teenagers in the room were part of Sasori's group of friends. People called them the akatsuki because each one of them had a pin of a red cloud that they wore everyday. Personally though, Sasori and the group didn't go by that name, but sometimes they would joke about it.

There was one only person in detention besides the 'akatsuki', Temari, and the Nara kid, and that was Tobi. He was such an akatsuki wannabe. Sakura heard that he even made a pin to look like he was in the group. She would say that he really needed to get some friends... but his only friend was actually one of the akatsuki, Zetsu. Zetsu was this cool punk that dyed his hair green one day. And as if he wasn't weird enough, he goes to every single football game. But... he paints himself entirely the school colors, black and white. It was surprising to know that he had a girlfriend; a pretty girl named Rose. There were rumors that they were going to elope and start a crop farm somewhere, but those are just crazy rumors. You never know where they come from.

On the other side of the room was Uchiha Itachi. He was Sasuke's twin brother, older only by a few minutes. Sakura had to admit that Itachi was hot, even though she was dating Sasori. It's just that she was obsessed with his brother, Sasuke, when she was twelve, so she couldn't deny how she thought Sasuke's twin looked. Once she met Sasori, those feelings for Sasuke disappeared and got replaced with new ones for Sasori that were twice as strong. That still didn't change the fact that Itachi was hot though.

Kisame, the one with the wild blue hair (it's natural... somehow.), was Itachi's best friend. He was on the school's swim team, and the best one on it. It freaked her out sometimes at how good he was at it. Itachi and him were inseparable though, always helping each other out with different pranks and such.

Hidan and his friend weren't important enough to even start to describe. They were cool, it's just that Sakura didn't know much about them. The other kid though... Sakura didn't even know his real name. He always sat in a seat way in a back corner so he was in a shadow. Sakura had heard that he was the 'akatsuki's leader. Whether if that's true or not... Sakura wasn't completely sure. But he scared her because if he wasn't in a shadow, he always had his hood up way over his head. She wasn't even completely sure if she knew what he looked like or not. Occasionally she thought she saw a glimpse of blonde hair, but she wasn't sure.

Temari was a foreign exchange student, along with her two brothers, from Suna. No one knew quite where that was, but they welcomed them anyways. Temari was in the same grade as her brother Kankuro because she flunked one year. It wasn't that she was bad at school; she just didn't like to do homework, and that apparently brought down all her grades to D's and F's. Shikamaru on the other hand, was a natural genius. He just had that whole lack of motivation going on there. Despite that, he still acquires straight A's in every class, even though he's got detention on top of all that. Sakura was sometimes envious of him, being able to not do barely any work and get good grades. Even though she was slacking off a little more lately, Sakura worked really hard for her A minuses.

Closing her eyes, Sakura felt the tiredness from the loss of sleep the past week take over. Her mind seemed to soar from dream to dream, not really sure where to stop. One of the dreams she was having was really weird. She was a ninja, and Sasori was... well he was a puppet. Deidara had a mechanical eye, and mouths on his hands that were creeping her out. He had put gloves on, just like the gloves he wears now, to cover them up. It make Sakura's unconscious mind wonder if that's what was really hiding underneath those gloves, but being in a dream, she didn't really think about it too hard. It's not like that could ever happen anyway, it was just a dream.

In the middle of another weird dream, where she found herself killing the puppet Sasori for some odd reason, she felt a hand on her shoulder and she jumped. Rubbing her eyes, she looked up to see Sasori and Deidara standing over her, both of them smiling. Or maybe smirking was more of the term.

"Yo sleepy head," Sasori grinned at her, rubbing his hand on the top of her head and messing up her light pink hair. "The bell rang, we're allowed to go. You still gonna come to Burger Queen with us?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah..." Sakura answered slowly, not completely sure if she knew where she was yet.

"Come on, we've got to get going or we'll... or we'll... or I'll be hungry! Unn!" Deidare rushed them out of the room. If you had looked closely though, you would have noticed that Deidara's eyes had gotten sad when Sasori and Sakura were talking.

"We're going, we're going!" Sakura playfully snapped at him. She didn't want to sound like she was really mad at him because that would've hurt both Sasori's and Deidara's feelings.

When they got out to the parking lot, they all got into Sasori's charcoal grey, Ford Probe. They all rode in it to and back from school, except when some of them had detention and the others didn't. Then they'd ride the bus, which they all surprisingly rode the same one; bus eight. So they took his car to Burger Queen and parked. Deidara ran in quickly before his friends, and by the time they got in, they couldn't find him anywhere. Turns out he had to use the restroom, so he came out a minute or so while Sasori and Sakura were still in line. When they got to the front, they started to order.

"I want a vanilla bean cheese cake, unn!" Deidara told the cashier happily. You could tell that the cashier was trying to figure out whether or not he was a guy or girl. If it wasn't for the guy's uniform he was wearing, they weren't sure if they'd be able to tell or not. Poor Deidara was always making people confused with his particularly feminine appearance.

"I'll take a grilled chicken deluxe," Sasori told the cashier, taking Sakura's hand in his own casually.

"And... I guess I'll have a side salad and water," Sakura finally decided, still looking at the menu wistfully. There were lots of things she wanted on there, but most of them were either expensive or too fat soaked. Sasori glanced over at her with his blank eyes.

"She'll also have a cheese burger deluxe," Sasori put in, grinning when he caught the completely shocked expression on his girlfriend's face. "No buts about it, Sakura. You need more fat; you're almost a skeleton..."

Sakura hit him playfully on the back of the head, but still let him keep that order. She guessed that a little more fat every now and then wasn't so bad after all. After getting their food on a tray, they went and sat down at the closet table to the door. It was the one they always sat. Deidara passed the food to his friends, and then took the triangular box and the fork for his own. Opening it, he dug his fork in and shoved it in his mouth. A look of happiness in heaven spread across his features as he took each bite. He ate it slowly though, so he could save the taste of flavor in each bite.

Sasori and Sakura were munching on their hamburgers (or in Sasori's case, his chickenburger), not talking much. Every now and then, one of the three friends would say something, and the others would either agree or laugh. The rest of the time they ate in a comfortable silence. When they were done, and about to leave, Deidara decided he needed to use the restroom... _again_. Sasori looked at Sakura with a look of adoration. Out of nowhere, he pulled Sakura into a tight hug, kissing her on her forehead.

"I love you, Sakura," he whispered into her hair, still holding her close.

Sakura seemed taken back by the sudden use of affection. "I love you too, Sasori."

"Stay with me?" Sasori asked quietly. He'd gone eerily serious in the past few seconds.

"Forever? Or just for today?" Sakura asked, not sure how to answer.

"Forever," Sasori confirmed, hugging her tighter.

Sakura let out a breath of air she didn't know she was holding. She hadn't expected this from him, but maybe she'd been hoping for it? She answered back with a soft word, hugging him back. "Okay."

Sakura had almost just buried her head into Sasori's chest, when an awkward cough came from behind them. It was Deidara, and his eye (the only one showing) was twitching slightly. It was barely noticeable, but Sakura could tell that it was. She sighed, taking Sasori's hand as they all began to walk back out to the car in silence. Sakura got in the front passenger seat; leaving Deidara to get in the back again (Sasori drives his car. He won't let anyone else touch it...). Sasori was in a timid mood right now and they didn't know what to say. Usually he was a more nonchalant kind of person.

They were about half way to Deidara and Sakura's road (they don't live in the same house... one's on one side of the road, way on one end, one's on the other side on the whole other end.) when Deidara started talking.

"Sasori-danna. Will we get to go on vacation again this year? You know... the one we've gone on every year since we were five, to your beach resort," Deidara asked intently, not wanting to disturb his mood, but also wanting to know if they were going or not. He was hoping for a little time to spend with Sasori... without Sakura there. With an after thought, he added another word. "Unn..."

"Yeah, of course we're going... Sakura, do you want to come too?" Sasori asked carelessly, making Deidara's dream snap along with his ever growing thin patience.

"No, unn!" Deidara yelled suddenly, his face turning red from embarrassment and rage. "She can't come! All you've been talking about lately is Sakura this, and Sakura that! Why can't it just be the two of us again? I won't let her come!"

"Excuse me?" Sakura defended herself. It was her that was the one feeling like a third wheel lately, so what was with his sudden reaction like that? "I can come if Sasori asks me! It's not really you're beach resort, is it?"

"I won't let you come, unn! I... won't... let... you!" Deidara screamed at her from the back seat, tears forming in his eyes.

Sakura was astounded by his behavior. Turning to Sasori, she quickly tried to persuade him to let her come.

"Sasori? Please let me come! Deidara's being unreasonable!" grabbing his arm slightly to half hug him while he was driving, Sakura gave him the puppy dog eyes. In theory, it was impossible to resist the puppy dog face.

"Stop it! Unn!" Deidara shouted at her. He finally just lost it, and pushed Sakura away from Sasori. It was slow motion from there... Sakura falling back, but she still had a hold of Sasori's arm. Sakura hit the passenger's seat hard, and Sasori swerved the car from lack of control of the steering wheel, making it spin like crazy. They had almost completely stopped spinning when a large bread van that was on the road going the other direction was now heading straight for them. You could hear the brakes of the van, but didn't stop in time. Sakura screamed as the van collided head on with Sasori's charcoal probe, glass spraying every where, cutting her skin. The last thing she remembered before passing out was a warm, red liquid running down her left cheek. There was a lot of it... but it wasn't hers.

A/N: Ugh... I was supposed to get this done yesterday, and now here I am just barely updating it today (which is the day I promised my friend I'd get it up). At least chapter number one is done! -feels refreshed- This story has been spinning through my head for a little while, I'm just finally getting it done (well the first chapter anyway). I hope you liked it, and don't mind the crack pairing too much. My friend, Nemo-chan, likes Sasori/Sakura, and Sasori/Deidara, and I... well, you'll find out what I like soon enough. This chapter is dedicated to Sasori, because he's cool like that (I myself actually don't particularly care that much for Sasori in the manga, but he's Nemo-chan's favorite character...so yeah, it's dedicated to him). Sorry if you don't like Shizune acting all strict... I just made her act like my study hall teacher, who gets irritated exactly like that. Personally, I actually like Shizune, so I have nothing against her... I'm just saying. Sorry if I _somehow_ offend anyone. Please review!

Lil Enchantress


	2. The News

**Gomennasai**  
Chapter 2: The News  
Written by Lil Enchantress

Sakura was swimming in a black cloud. She couldn't remember how she got there, but it was really eerie and relaxing at the same time. There wasn't a care in the world. So quiet, soft, and perfect. But something was wrong. Although she seemed to be in a very soft environment, there was a large prick in the back of her head. Not exactly like a knife sticking in the side of her head, but a nice long needle, making its way further into her skull. She couldn't figure out what it was. What could have caused this awful pain when she was surrounded by wonderful things?

Or maybe... she really wasn't. Maybe it was all an illusion that her mind was forming for her to forget something she didn't want to remember. But what could be so horrible that she'd try to forget this hard? And what was that annoying white glow in her eyes?!

Opening her eyes suddenly, Sakura found herself panting as she stared at the light fixture above her. It had a cover, but was still rather bright. The white ceiling illuminated it even further, tricking her to believe it was going right in her eyes. Sakura flinched, and then tried to rub her eyes. Only... she couldn't. Her arms felt really heavy, and there seemed to be things attached to them. Looking down to the inside of her elbow, Sakura noticed a needle sticking into her arm with a tube leading to and I.V. drip. What in the world was that for?

Leaning up in the sanitized bed slowly, Sakura began to take in her surroundings more clearly. The I.V. drip connected to her arm seemed to have a medicine in it that made her body numb, which was the reason why she couldn't move her arm to rub her eyes. In the corner of her eyesight, she saw a tuft of pink hair coming out at an odd angle that only could be like that if she'd had bandages wrapped tightly around her head. Looking down to her arms again, she noticed that they were also wrapped in some of the same bandages on her head, on different sections of her arms.

Suddenly, Sakura had an urge to cry. She didn't know why, she couldn't remember... but it was strong. She tried to keep the urge back because she wasn't the kind of person to normally just break down and cry, but there was something in the back of her head telling her that she was supposed to cry. It was rather frustrating because she still couldn't figure out why. As the tears began to fill her eyes, she bit her lip, fighting them at all costs. If she couldn't figure out why she was crying, then she wouldn't let herself cry! That was her philosophy.

While she was distracted with that, a middle aged nurse came in, seemingly to check up on her. She had a dirty brown hair that was brushed neatly into a low bun to keep it from getting in the way of her job, and was carrying a clipboard of which she was writing on as she came in. When she noticed that Sakura had sat up, a look of joy and surprise struck her face. Placing the clipboard sloppily onto the closet side table, the nurse rushed over to check for signs of farther injury from waking up.

"Haruno Sakura?" the nurse inquired, making sure that was in fact her patient's name, but checking at the same time to see if she remembered.

"Um..," Sakura looked around almost lazily, shock slightly filling her from realizing she was in a hospital. "Yes?"

"How are you feeling? Any nausea? Does it hurt anywhere?"

"Well... I can't feel my arms, and my head feels heavy but light headed at the same time," Sakura said, glancing over to the nurse's name tag to get her mind off of it. Her name was Sophie.

"Ah, well that's to be expected with the pain killers we've put into the I.V.," she said calmly, smiling at Sakura sweetly. "You'll be okay. Besides, it's definitely better than feeling the pain right now."

"Pain?"

"Yes. Don't you remember?" Sophie replied, staring back into Sakura's eyes seriously. This could be a problem if she found out Sakura had amnesia.

"Remember? I don't know what you're talking about," Sakura sighed, her head lying back slightly. She could feel her head trying to do that thing again. The thing where it's trying to hide something. She didn't know what it was trying to hide though.

"Miss Haruno... aren't you wondering why you're in here?"

"I just thought- well maybe- I don't-" Sakura kept stuttering. She really never thought about it. Why _was_ she in the hospital?

"Maybe we should give you a few more check ups. I think that concussion of yours might have given you slight amnesia. Don't worry; we'll get you better soon. But first... I need to check if my other patient is alright. I'll be right back," Sophie said, walking over the the other side of the room.

It was the first time Sakura realized she was in a shared room. Why she didn't notice the large curtain dividing the two halves of the room, she didn't know, but it was plain as day where she was now. Sakura hoped silently it wasn't an elder that was sick. Not that they themselves were bad, it's just that the only way Sakura would get sick in a hospital was when she saw a sick elder. It made her so nauseated, with the smells and seeing them so helpless. She really didn't know what to do when she saw them.

When the curtain got pulled away though, Sakura was in for a much bigger surprise. Lying there almost lifeless was Deidara. He had random bandages all over, but the most significant bandage was around his head and left eye. It was wound up really thick and tight, mostly around the eye, but around the head to keep it from falling off. He also had an I.V. drip, leading instead to his wrist. If she hadn't known that dead people don't go to hospitals, she would've thought he was literally dead. He wasn't moving even to breathe, and his face was so white. The last thing she noticed was the cliché hospital gown he was wearing. Until now, she hadn't even noticed that her own clothes had been stripped so she could fashion one of those.

As the nurse started reading all the machines around him, Sakura started to wonder what happened to him. And how much of a coincidence was it that he was in the exact same room as her? What was wrong with his eye? Suddenly, a rushed scene flashed through her mind. As soon as it'd come though, it was gone. What was that? Sakura hiccupped, and then she saw it again. It was sort of blurry but she was in a car... and Sasori and Deidara were there.

---

_Deidara shouted at her. He finally just lost it, and pushed Sakura away from Sasori. It was slow motion from there... Sakura falling back, but she still had a hold of Sasori's arm. Sakura hit the passenger's seat hard, and Sasori swerved the car from lack of control of the steering wheel, making it spin like crazy. They had almost completely stopped spinning when a large bread van that was on the road going the other direction was now heading straight for them. You could hear the brakes of the van, but it didn't stop in time. Sakura screamed as the van collided head on with Sasori's charcoal ford probe, glass spraying every where, cutting her skin. The last thing she remembered before passing out was a warm, red liquid running down her left cheek. There was a lot of it... but it wasn't hers. _

_Glancing very slightly to the left she saw Sasori. His face was in pain and surprise. It was all so confusing. She barely knew what was going on. Still looking at Sasori, she saw his stomach. It was ripped open. Or at least she thought it was. What other reason would there be for blood to be pouring out of it? She tried to say something, but she couldn't. She felt light headed, and she fainted into the pitch black comfort of unconsciousness. It was too late, and she knew it..._

_--- _

Sakura was screaming as if she was dying, holding her head and knees into a fetal position. She'd reacted without knowing it, and the nurse had come back over along with another new nurse trying to restrain her. She wouldn't stop screaming though, she couldn't. She'd just relived the most horrifying event in her life. How could she calm down after that? She knew now why she felt so much like crying, why she'd thought she had a huge weight on her shoulders. How could she possibly calm down after seeing her boyfriend get ripped open and bleed to death almost instantaneously? He'd promised to stay with her forever... why did everything happen the way it did?

Noticing Deidara's lifeless blonde hair out of the corner of her eye, Sakura knew she'd found the answer. It was Deidara! He was the one that pushed her away from Sasori when they were fighting! He was the one that made Sasori swerve the car and made it stop in the other lane! It was him that was the cause of Sasori's death! It was him...

Well, she was exaturating it a little bit, but this wasn't a situation where she could just let it go. She felt like she needed to blame someone. Deidara really was a huge cause of it, and though it may not be a nice thing to blame someone, she couldn't help but feel completely bitter towards him. Finally the new nurse (which was a bit younger than Sophie, the first one) put her hand on Sakura's mouth, muffling the scream a little.

"I-I'm sorry miss, but you've got to calm down!" she said, still attempting to settle Sakura. "Our other patient in this room is in serious pain. We had to overdose the medicine s-slightly just because the pain was so much. If he were to wake up he might-"

They were interrupted by a groan and the shuffling of sheets on the other side of the room. A patch of long blonde hair fell over the bandages on the boy's eyes as he started leaning up in his bed. He wasn't getting far, and by the expression on his face, it hurt to move that much, but he kept attempting to sit up. The original nurse, Sophie, ran over to him in desperation, hoping she get him to go back to sleep before he realized just how much pain he was in. The medication only worked while he was sleeping because it needed him to be completely still, and his resting heart rate had to be high (or is it low...I can't remember how the resting heart rate works). If he tried to move, he would definitely feel what happened as if it were happening right then. How he managed to wake up right now though was beyond their belief because along with that medication, they'd also given him a dose of sleeping pills.

After a hiccup, Sakura finally stopped screaming and stared at Deidara while the nurse kept her hand on her mouth in case she decided to scream again. She had to fight with herself not to cry again. Though this time felt different. She didn't know why she was almost crying. Yes, she'd found out her boyfriend had just died, but these didn't feel like tears for a dead loved one. They were almost like... pity. After she'd finally calmed down, she'd noticed Deidara's complete weak form. He was so much more bandaged than herself, and the bandage covering his eye was huge. She began wondering what all happened to him in the car. Sakura hadn't seen him after all... she'd been too concentrated on Sasori's blood spraying everywhere before she'd fainted.

Sakura felt another headache coming. All the emotions were confusing her. Why was she worried about Deidara when just a minute ago she was blaming him for Sasori's death? Despite that, Sakura still kept wondering. What was it that happened to him? And why was it that Deidara got mad to begin with? He couldn't have been… jealous… could he? Was that it?

Noticing the nurse Sophie was getting a shot ready for Deidara, she looked away. She could get a shot herself fine, but seeing someone else get one was a different story. She decided to focus on the new nurse that had walked in for the time being. Who, by the way, still had her hand covering Sakura's mouth. Sakura nudged the nurse's arm, getting her attention.

"Go-gomen! I forgot I had my arm th-there," the nurse apologized, bowing her head and trying to keep her voice low.

"It's okay, really, but… -hey, don't I know you?" Sakura asked, making the nurse's eyes widen slightly.

"Per-perhaps… my name's Hinata Hyuuga. I'm still only sixteen, but I'm a nurse's aid here b-because I like to make people f-feel better." The navy haired brunette smiled sweetly at Sakura, her head tilting to the side slightly.

"So you go to Konoha High too, right? I thought I'd seen you somewhere. You're in my Health class right? You sit next to that pest, Naruto."

"O-oh! He's not a pest at all! In fact, he's…-I mean. F-forget that…," Hinata looked away quickly, her face reddened considerably. Sakura could tell that she must have had strong feelings for that dope of a boy. Not that he was all bad or anything, he'd just been really annoying when he'd had that crush on her back in 7th grade. And she loved someone else tons more right now… wait. Did. Sakura's eyes got distant as the realization hit her for the second time. How could she of just had a normal conversation as if nothing was wrong? How? It was impossible! Her boyfriend… it's just. How could this have happened? Why to her? Why to Sasori?

Closing her eyes and letting just one tear slide down her cheeks she tried to think evenly. Deidara. What about him? He started the fight that eventually caused Sasori to die. Right. But… if she hadn't of fought back, Sasori might still be here. So it was her fault too… and Deidara was badly hurt as well. Actually she didn't know what kind of condition he was in. He might even be close to death… after all, she didn't remember seeing him breathe when she'd caught that glance of him on the stiff, white bed. So all of this was her fault, wasn't it? If she hadn't of been jealous of Deidara for being such a good friend to Sasori, then she wouldn't have been so competitive and fought back! It was all her fault.

The tears were coming swifter now, rolling down her distressed cheeks. Sometimes it would roll past her lips and she could taste the bitterness of what had just happened in her tears. She wailed softly for a minute before Hinata broke into her thoughts, stuttering.

"Ah, S-sakura-chan." Hinata looked down at her clipboard quickly to make sure she had the correct name before connecting eyes with the pink haired girl again. "This must be really horrible for you, gomen. B-but you need to keep it down a l-little. Deidara-kun needs quiet to rest."

"And so do you," Sophie cut in as she finished he job with getting Deidara back to sleep successfully and as painlessly as she could. "You're not in the best of conditions either if you haven't figured that out…get to bed. It's only four in the morning. I'll be back to wake you up for breakfast around eight, okay?"

Stepping across the room, she helped Hinata push Sakura back comfortably and tucked her in. She was about to protest, but a wave of drowsiness passed over her eyes and she suddenly felt like a rock. It may have been seconds before she drifted back into an unconscious sleep.

---

When Sakura woke up the next time, she knew exactly what had happened in the middle of the night and remembered the accident even clearer than the bright morning sun that was shining through her hospital window. It was giving her a headache, but at least she didn't feel like she had to cry her heart out at the moment. When she sat up she first noticed that the numbness wasn't as strong as it had been at four in the morning. She could feel a little pain, but most of it was very slight and easy to handle. Apparently she hadn't been as hurt as the nurse thought she might be if she was doing fine right now.

Sakura leaned over her lap a little bit and then slouched with a huff of air. It was so boring in the hospital; it drove her crazy. She wanted to get up and walk, because she felt like she could, but if she got caught she'd be in so much trouble. And well… she hated to be in trouble. Biting her lip, Sakura tried to push the suggesting thoughts of Inner Sakura out of her mind. If Sasori were here… then he'd say go for it. He wouldn't let some lame old rules keep him from doing what he thought he was capable of doing.

With memories of him in mind, Sakura finally pushed herself to the side of her bed so she could hop off. If this would help her cope with Sasori, then heck… she was gonna do it. As she was about to take her first step off the hard bed, she heard a shuffling of sheets on the bed across the room. Wincing, Sakura thought to herself silently. _Shoot! _She'd woken him up… Slowly turning her head in his direction she found one blue eye staring at her intently. It blinked, and she blinked in return.

"How… long have you been up?" Sakura ventured finally, getting nauseated at the deathly quiet atmosphere.

"Long enough," he said suggestively, glancing in the other direction sulking.

"What's that supposed to mean, huh?" Oh, even when he was sick and wounded he made her snap!

"Since before you were up, un," he replied monotonously, turning his head with a flip of his long blonde hair so he could look up at the black television screen blankly.

What was up with him? One second he's making snide remarks, the next it's like he's a zombie from Death Island. Suddenly finding the urge to know what time it was, Sakura looked around the room for a clock. Upon not finding any, she turned reluctantly back to Deidara.

"You wouldn't happen to know what time it is would you?" Sakura scratched the back of her neck nervously, wishing she was anywhere but in this room with him.

"The clock's on the shelf behind you." He stopped abruptly, still staring at the blank television screen. Sakura wondered if she should turn it on so it would be less awkward…

Instead, she turned her head to the digital clock that was indeed behind her. It read seven o' three a.m. Great. There was still fifty-seven minutes until the nurse came in with her food. And she was stuck with Mr. Conversational Piece here… not that she was very interested in talking to him anyway, it was just awkward. She needed something to do though. Thinking about Sasori would just make her go mad. She had right hand experience with losses. Her best friend, Ino, had to go through the horrors of losing her mother to cancer just a couple years back. Ino had almost broken by thinking about her so much. It wasn't healthy.

But yet… she couldn't help but think about him. It seemed to be not right if she didn't. He was DEAD. NEVER COMING BACK. She shook when shivers suddenly went down her back with these thoughts. Closing her eyes, she took in an uneven breathe, but didn't cry. Why?! Why?! This wasn't fair! They were just hanging out yesterday and everything was normal! How did this happen? She felt her throat close up as she kept pushing her thoughts further. Sasori had been the only one that loved her back the way she loved him. More! He was so special… no one could possibly replace him. Ever.

When her stomach grumbled loudly in the middle of her brooding, she realized that she was indeed hungry. She _had_ been getting ready to go eat before Deidara had woken up. Or… before she realized he was awake. And she really really needed to do something to get her mind off of Sasori. She loved him so much… but it was already destroying her mind. The empty feeling…

Once again she pushed herself off the bed, this time, hitting the cold white floors beneath her. There was a small jolt up her spine to her head, but nothing hurt really seriously besides that. Grabbing the I.V. drip stand, Sakura made her way to the door. She stopped at the frame though and took one last glance back at Deidara who was still sitting there lifelessly. His usually shining hair was dull and tangled; his bangs covered the lump of bandages she remembered from the middle of the night. He just… sat there. Staring. Turning her head back to the hallway, Sakura made her way to the vending machines. His current condition was sort of startling for her. He was _always_ happy. During _everything_. She didn't want to think about him right now, so she concentrated on the tiles in front of her.

They weren't just the regular white tiles. They had little brown and tan flecks in them. And they were very cold beneath her bare feet. She hadn't thought to look for socks in that shared room of hers. Who knows, there might have been a pair in the dresser that was placed between her and Deidara's beds. But now she was exactly where she wanted to be; far away from the room. Spotting a sign hanging from the ceiling, she followed it and took the next right turn to get to the vending machines. It was then that she realized she didn't have her purse or any money on her. Damn!

Just about to leave, Sakura caught something out of the corner of her eye. A paper bill going in and out of one of the candy machines. She quickly grabbed it and looked at the number. It was just a one… but hey, it could still get her sixty-five cent cracker and cheese combos. Putting in the bill correctly, she pushed in G5 on the digital pad and was rewarded with her favorite snack. She'd tried to get Sasori to eat them one day, but he wasn't that big of a fan. Opening the package while trying to push her I.V. drip at the same time, Sakura sighed. Why did everything remind her of him?

The flash of memory from the car crash went through her mind again like an unwelcome bolt of lightning. The blood, the horrible crunching sound of the car, their screams in the confined space, and smell of the blood that was spraying on her was all much more realistic again. So fresh in her mind… Suddenly Sakura didn't feel like eating anymore. Carrying the opening bag dejectedly, she made her way back to her shared room. A wave of nausea went through her senses before she walked into the room and she felt like she was going to throw up. Why couldn't it of been her instead? Why couldn't she have died in Sasori's place?

The inside of her room looked about the same as before. Nobody had checked up on them while she was gone so she was pretty sure she hadn't been caught. Tossing the combos onto the side table next to the bed, she sat down quickly. The white sheets became disheveled, but she didn't care. Right now she hated it here. There was a thick bloody smell mixed in with all the disinfectants and it reminded her of what happened. Everything was. It was horrible…

"Sasori died…," Deidara whispered from the other side of the room quietly. She had almost forgotten he was there and barely caught what he said. She winced, hearing the statement out loud and didn't respond. He continued. "They came in and told me around six when I woke up."

There was another awkward silence. She knew he wanted to say more, but he was taking his time to say it. She heard the soft smack of his lips opening and a breath being took.

"They tried to save him, un, but he'd lost too much blood, and they couldn't get his heart to start beating again." Deidara was staring at his hands now. He didn't really seem to be talking to anyone. After another short pause he looked up into Sakura's eyes. "It's all your fault. You killed Sasori…"

Gulping nervously as she stared into the solo eye of her deceased boyfriend's best friend, she felt like crying. Crying with her entire body. _She_ could have told him that…

A/N: Ah! I'm so terribly sorry for the extremely long wait. This story originally had started out as just an idea to get down on words so I wouldn't forget it. And then when I was ready to write more I was going to come back to it. I never expected so many people to like it! I hope this chapter hasn't dampened your original thoughts. Thanks so much for those that have stuck with me on this. I appreciate all your reviews so much!

Lil Enchantress


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